As someone just starting their journey into privacy-focused, open-source software, I’d love to hear what apps the community recommends.

I’m particularly interested in:

  • What messaging apps you use instead of WhatsApp/Messenger
  • Alternatives to Google services (email, calendar, cloud storage)
  • Social media alternatives that respect privacy
  • Browsers
  • Password managers worth using
  • Any other productivity apps you’d recommend me to use

I’m using Apple devices (I know, I know), so apps that work well in this ecosystem would be ideal. Which ones have you found perform exceptionally well?

What was your experience transitioning away from corporate services? Any pitfalls to avoid or strategies that made the switch easier?

  • donkeystompleEnglish
    2•6 days ago

    Signal for messaging

    Proton ecosystem for Google stuff

    I don’t really know of any social media alternatives.

    Firefox, Hardened Safari, or Brave for Browsers (I prefer Brave especially on ios. The add blockers and protections work a lot better than a lot of options) I also mainly used hardened Safari for a while and it also worked really well.

    1password works great for passwords, I’ve also heard great things about Proton Pass which is part of the Proton ecosystem. (I want to try Proton eventually when I can afford it)